Garment hanger



Nov. 23, 1965 c. H. NEWTON GARMENT HANGER Filed March 7, 1965 FIG. 2.

FIG.4.

INVENTOR CLARENCE NEWTON United States Patent 3,219,241 GARMENT HANGERClarence Henry Newton, 583 Highbury S t., London, Ontario, Canada FiledMar. 7, 1963, Ser. No. 263,469 2 Claims. (Cl. 223-94) This inventionrelates to improvements in a garment hanger and appertains particularlyto one that can be folded into compact form when not in use.

Foldable garment hangers known heretofore have usually had a commondrawback, namely a lack of stability or rigidity when in use, as becausethe connections between the shoulder supporting members were liable toinadvertently fold, causing inconvenience and annoyance to the user ofthe garment hanger, allowing the garment to fall off the hanger.

An object of the present invention is to construct a coat hanger inwhich the shoulder supporting members for the garment may be rotatedoutwardly so that the two shoulder supporting members when extended, arein alignment and are foldable upwardly in a vertical plane passingthrough the shoulder members, thus transmitting to the hanger greatrigidity and strength when in use.

Another object of the invention is to provide a garment hanger capableof being folded into compact form to occupy a minimum of space when notin use, in which condition it may be readily packed in a small carryingcase such as can be accommodated in a ladys handbag.

A further object of the invention is to provide a foldable garmenthanger having a hook or similar suspending member attached to thegarment hanger intermediate of its width in such a manner that the hookis retained rigidly in a vertical position when the hanger is in use,and thus the outwardly extended shoulder members of the hanger arealways suspended in a substantially horizontal position, the hook lyingin close proximity to and between the shoulder members of the hangerwhen the device is in folded condition.

A further object of the invention is to provide a garment hanger of thenature and for the purposes described characterized by structuralsimplicity, good stability when in use, ease of opening and closing andbeing capable of manufacture at reasonable cost is thereby renderedcommercially desirable.

To the accomplishment of these and related objects as shall becomeapparent as the description proceeds, the invention resides in theconstruction, combination and arrangement of parts as shall behereinafter more fully described, illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, and pointed out in the claims hereunto appended.

The invention will be best understood and can be more clearly describedwhen reference is had to the drawings forming a part of this disclosurewherein like characters indicate like parts throughout the severalviews.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of my garment hanger, showing one shouldermember opened and the other shoulder member partly unfolded with the tipbeing rotated from a closed position to an open position;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the same;

FIGURE 3 is a front elevation of my improved garment hanger in acollapsed or folded position showing the compact manner of packingwhereby the garment hanger occupies a minimum of space thus permittingit to be easily stored in luggage or even in a ladys handbag; and

FIGURE 4 is a side elevation of the collapsed or folded hanger as shownin FIGURE 3.

Referring to the drawing, 6 represents my foldable garment hangercomprising two side arms 7 on which a garment or coat may be suspended.

These side arms 7 are similar and complementary and each consists of twosections 10 and 11 which are pivotally connected at their adjoiningends. Each section 10 is formed of a pair of similar members 10a and1012 which are arranged in spaced parallelism and the end of each memberremote from the section 11 is pivotally connected by the hinge pin 14 toa semi-circular connector member 8 which is located at the centre of thegarment hanger when in an unfolded or in extended position.

This connector is provided on its peripheral edge with a recess or notch12, the object of which will be made clear hereafter.

The two adjacent ends of the members 10a and 10b are pivotally hinged bythe pins 14 to connector 8, and it will be noted that these adjacentends are notched to form projecting shoulders 15 which when the members10 are opened will abut and the upper portion of the adjacent end edgesof the members 10a and 10b are formed with arcuate ends 16 simulatingquadrants of a circle as illustrated in FIGURES l and 3.

The lower edges of the members 10a and 10b are, when in an openposition, horizontally disposed, while the upper edges of these twomembers taper towards the end remote from the connector 8, and theseremote ends are spaced apart by the distance piece 17 which may beconnected in any suitable manner to such members, as by fusing if thegarment hanger is made of plastic.

The ends of the members 10a and 10b remote from the connector 8 are eachprovided with registering semicircular projections or lugs 18, while theremainder of the edge of the said ends forms a plane wall 19 which liesin the same plane as the outer end of the distance piece 17. Thisdistance piece 17 is preferably of wedge-like shape, that is, the topedge tapers downwardly towards the outer ends of the members 10a and10b.

The member 11 which co-acts with the member 10 is a unitary member ofuniform thickness which fits within the space between the two members10a and 10b, and the member 11 is provided at one end with asemi-circular projection 20 which is pivotally connected to thesemicircular projections 18 of the member 10 by means of the hinge pin21.

It will be noted that the under edge of the member 11 and the underedges of the members 10a and 10b lie in a horizontal plane when thegarment hanger is in use, and that the upper tapered edge 22 of themember 11 is in alignment with the upper tapered edge 23 of the members10a and 10b constituting the member 10, and in this position theshoulder 19 of each member 11 abuts the outer end face of the co-actingdistance piece 17.

The clothes hanger 6 is suspended by a hook or similar member 9 and inthe embodiment illustrated the lower end of the hook is flattened asshown at 24 to snugly engage an outer face of one side of the connector8 to which it is attached by a pin 26. The stem of the hook is offsetadjacent the periphery of the connector 8 as shown at 25 in FIGURE 4,the offset leg fitting snugly in the peripheral notch or recess 12 inthe connector thereby preventing relative pivoting of the hook in theconnector. As will be seen in FIGURES 2, 3 and 4, the upper, offset endof the stern that extends upwardly and terminates in a hook 9 is offseton the side of the connector 8 opposite that side to which the flattenedend is attached a greater distance than the thickness of the arms sidemembers 10a- There is substantially no movement of the hook member 9relatively to the connector 8 and when the coat hanger is in openposition the shoulder engaging members 10 and 11 lie in a positionindicated at the right hand of FIGURE 1. The flattened end 24 of thehook stern lies snugly between the junction of the members 3 a and 10band the curved end 16 of the adjoining members 10. This is particularlyillustrated in FIG- URES 1 and 3.

The members 11 are each provided adjacent one edge with a recess 28which may be engaged by the thumbnail of the user of the hanger torotate the members 11 outwardly around their pivot pins 21 and so bringthe members 11 into extended open position in alignment with the members10 which are swung into the open position around the pivot pins 14.

To accommodate the hanging of a pair of trousers or a skirt on theclothes hanger, hooks 29 are provided on the two members 10, and theseare pivotally attached to the members 10a and 1017 by the pins 30, andthe hooks are located adjacent the distance pieces 17.

When this garment hanger is to be used, and when it is in a foldedposition, the user of the hanger rotates the two members 10 from thevertical position shown in FIGURE 3 to a horizontal position by rotatingthe members 10 around the pins 14. The members 11 are now rotated fromtheir folded position so that they will form an extension of the members10 with the upper edges of the members 10 and 11 being in alignment.

In this position the hook member 9 is vertically disposed and themembers 10 and 11 extend on opposite sides of the hook member 9 and themembers 10 and 11 are in alignment and lie in a horizontal position.Since the offset portion 25 of the stem of the hook member 9 intimatelyengages the peripheral notch or recess 12 in the connector 8, then thereis no possibility of the garment-supporting shoulder members of thegarment hanger assuming any other position than is illustrated in FIG-URE 1, and at the right-hand side thereof.

The coat or jacket placed on the garment hanger will tend to pull theshoulder supporting members downwardly but this movement is resisted bythe coplanar pairs of shoulders 15 of the members It abutting eachother, and the members 11 in their open position abut the space membersor distance pieces 17 so that there is no possibility of the garmenthanger collapsing inadvertently when a garment is suspended thereon.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, it will be manifest that a garment hanger is provided thatwill fulfill all the necessary requirements of such a device, but asmany changes could he made in the above description and many apparentlywidely different embodiments of the invention may be constructed withinthe scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit orscope thereof, it is intended that all matters contained in the saidaccompanying specification and drawings shall be interpreted asillustrative and not in a limitative or restrictive sense.

What is claimed as new is:

1. A garment hanger comprising a fiat connector of semi-circularconfiguration having a notch in its periphery, a pair of similarcomplementary supporting side arms each consisting of a pair of similarfiat members arranged in spaced parallel relation, with one end of eachpair of such fiat members embracing and pivotally connected to the flatconnector, the ends of the respective side arms adjacent the connectorbeing provided with projections which co-act when the arms are open, awedge shaped spacing member located between the other ends of the flatparallel side members remote from the said pivoted ends, the upper faceof the wedge being inclined downwardly towards said other ends of theflat parallel members, and extension members pivoted between the ends ofthe spaced parallel side arm members adjacent the wedge and engaging theend of the wedge when in extended open position, said extension membersoverlying and engaging the upper inclined face of the wedge when theextension members are closed, the extension members in closed positionbeing partially embraced between the flat parallel spaced side memberswith the upper edges of the extension members projecting beyond thespaced flat members, and a hook having an offset stern connected to thefiat connector, the offsetting leg of the stern fitting snugly in thenotch in the periphery of the connector to prevent pivoting of the hookrelative to the connector.

2. A garment hanger comprising a flat connector of semi-circular formhaving a transverse notch in its peripheral circular edge intermediateof the length thereof, a pair of similar complementary supporting sidearms each consisting of a pair of similar fiat members arranged inspaced parallel relation and having one end embracing and pivotallyattached to the flat connector, the said ends of the flat member beingarcuate as the quadrant of a circle with projections extending therefromwhich co-act when the arms are open, a wedge-shaped spacing memberembraced by the ends of the spaced parallel members remote from theaforesaid pivoted ends, the wedge-shaped spacing member having an upperinclined face and being rigidly connected to the spaced parallel membersof the side arms, the spaced parallel side members having projectionsextending beyond the wedge spacing member, flat extension memberspivotally connected to the last said projections, the extension membersabutting the wedge-shaped spacing members when the extension members areopen, each extension member overlying and engaging the upper inclinedface of the adjacent wedge spacing member when the extension member isclosed, and a hook having a shank flattened at its lower end andattached to the outer face of one side of said connector and lyingbetween the arcuate pivoted ends of the flat members of said arms, theshank having an offsetting leg intermediate of its length engaged in thenotch in the peripheral edge of the flat connector member, said hookbeing offset on the side of the connector opposite to that to which itsflattened lower end is attached a greater distance than the thickness ofone of the flat members of said side arms so as to lie outside thereofwhen the hanger arms are in closed position.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,052,426 2/ 1913Ringler 22394 X 1,743,234 1/1930 Porter 22394 X 1,959,840 5/1934 Pierce22396 2,558,583 6/1951 Robins 223-94 2,719,658 10/1955 Bayliss 223942,800,261 7/1957 Lee 22394 FOREIGN PATENTS 631,388 9/1927 France.

666,879 5/ 1929 France.

328,828 5/ 1930 Great Britain.

42,560 3/ 1926 Norway.

JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner.

RUSSELL C. MADER, ROBERT V. SLOAN, Examiners.

1. A GARMENT HANGER COMPRISING A FLAT CONNECTOR OF SEMI-CIRCULARCONFIGURATION HAVING A NOTCH IN ITS PERIPHERY, A PAIR OF SIMILARCOMPLEMENTARY SUPPORTING SIDE ARMS EACH CONSISTING OF A PAIR OF SIMILARFLAT MEMBERS ARRANGED IN SPACED PARALLEL RELATION, WITH ONE END OF EACHPAIR OF SUCH FLAT MEMBERS EMBRACING AND PIVOTALLY CONNECTED TO THE FLATCONNECTOR, THE ENDS OF THE RESPECTIVE SIDE ARMS ADJACENT THE CONNECTORBEING PROVIDED WITH PROJECTIONS WHICH CO-ACT WHEN THE ARMS ARE OPEN, AWEDGE SHAPED SPACING MEMBER LOCATED BETWEEN THE OTHER ENDS OF THE FLATPARALLEL SIDE MEMBERS REMOTE FROM THE SAID PIVOTED ENDS, THE UPPER FACEOF THE WEDGE BEING INCLINED DOWNWARDLY TOWARDS SAID OTHER ENDS OF THEFLAT PARALLEL MEMBERS, AND EXTENSION MEMBERS PIVOTED BETWEEN THE ENDS OFTHE SPACED PARALLEL SIDE ARM MEMBERS ADJACENT THE WEDGE AND ENGAGING THEEND OF THE WEDGE WHEN IN